Hamersly Library

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Library Home Find Information Articles Books, music, videos... Journals by Title Cite in APA, MLA... More... Class Stuff Class Research Guides Course Reserves Study Rooms About Contact Us Checkout Exhibits Instruction (Tutorials) Research Help Rooms & Building Policies Maps & Directions Mission and Vision Giving to the library Site Index Collections Archives Collection Development and Acquisitions Oregon Adopted Inst. Material Recreation My Library Help Ask a Librarian Borrow & Renew Off-Campus Access For Faculty Student Employment
ASK A LIBRARIAN Our partner librarians are online--anytime. Or you may email your question to us.	All about book reviews Back to book reviews resources page Definition \| Before you search \| Search tips \| Scholarly reviews What is a book review? A book review is a critique of a specific work (fiction or non-fiction, popular or literary), usually written close to the time of the work’s initial publication. Book reviews can be from a few sentences to several pages in length. Literary criticism, in contrast, presents in-depth analysis of literary works, including both interpretation and evaluation. For more information on literary criticism, go to the subject guide for literature. Top of page Before you search Gather information about the book: the full title of the book the author’s first and last names the book's publication date. If you don’t have the book on hand,you can often find this information by searching the title in the WorldCat database. If the publication date is since 1980, you may find book reviews both in electronic databases and in paper indexes. the book's subject area: general, or specific (like history, literature, education, etc.) This will help you determine the best databases or indexes to search. Top of page Search tips For all databases: Note the date that the database began coverage, and make sure that the book's publication date is not earlier. Many databases will have a “publication type” or similar field, so you can limit searches to book reviews. Specify "Book Review" in Article Type Phrase, Document Type, or similar field. For databases that don't allow you to limit by publication type: In subject: enter the phrase “book review”, or In keyword: enter the term “review” AND In keyword: search the author's last name and one or two keywords from the book title If you get too many results, try limiting your search results by date. Use a range from the year before publication to the year after (for example, “1997-1999” for a book published in 1998). Top of page Scholarly or discipline-specific book reviews Most scholarly journals publish reviews of books of interest to scholars in the discipline covered by the journal. To locate book reviews in scholarly journals, use the same search strategies as for general databases and indexes, but search databases that are devoted to a specific discipline. You can identify these databases by consulting the library’s subject guides. Top of page Back to book reviews resources page
Contact Hamersly Library 503-838-8418 \| libweb@wou.edu
MissionWestern Oregon University \| 345 N. Monmouth Ave. \| Monmouth OR 97361 \| 503-838-8000(V/TTY) \| 1-877-877-1593 \| webmaster@wou.edu Text only

Library Home Find Information Articles Books, music, videos... Journals by Title Cite in APA, MLA... More... Class Stuff Class Research Guides Course Reserves Study Rooms About Contact Us Checkout Exhibits Instruction (Tutorials) Research Help Rooms & Building Policies Maps & Directions Mission and Vision Giving to the library Site Index Collections Archives Collection Development and Acquisitions Oregon Adopted Inst. Material Recreation My Library Help Ask a Librarian Borrow & Renew Off-Campus Access For Faculty Student Employment
ASK A LIBRARIAN Our partner librarians are online--anytime. Or you may email your question to us.	All about book reviews Back to book reviews resources page Definition \| Before you search \| Search tips \| Scholarly reviews What is a book review? A book review is a critique of a specific work (fiction or non-fiction, popular or literary), usually written close to the time of the work’s initial publication. Book reviews can be from a few sentences to several pages in length. Literary criticism, in contrast, presents in-depth analysis of literary works, including both interpretation and evaluation. For more information on literary criticism, go to the subject guide for literature. Top of page Before you search Gather information about the book: the full title of the book the author’s first and last names the book's publication date. If you don’t have the book on hand,you can often find this information by searching the title in the WorldCat database. If the publication date is since 1980, you may find book reviews both in electronic databases and in paper indexes. the book's subject area: general, or specific (like history, literature, education, etc.) This will help you determine the best databases or indexes to search. Top of page Search tips For all databases: Note the date that the database began coverage, and make sure that the book's publication date is not earlier. Many databases will have a “publication type” or similar field, so you can limit searches to book reviews. Specify "Book Review" in Article Type Phrase, Document Type, or similar field. For databases that don't allow you to limit by publication type: In subject: enter the phrase “book review”, or In keyword: enter the term “review” AND In keyword: search the author's last name and one or two keywords from the book title If you get too many results, try limiting your search results by date. Use a range from the year before publication to the year after (for example, “1997-1999” for a book published in 1998). Top of page Scholarly or discipline-specific book reviews Most scholarly journals publish reviews of books of interest to scholars in the discipline covered by the journal. To locate book reviews in scholarly journals, use the same search strategies as for general databases and indexes, but search databases that are devoted to a specific discipline. You can identify these databases by consulting the library’s subject guides. Top of page Back to book reviews resources page
Contact Hamersly Library 503-838-8418 \| libweb@wou.edu
MissionWestern Oregon University \| 345 N. Monmouth Ave. \| Monmouth OR 97361 \| 503-838-8000(V/TTY) \| 1-877-877-1593 \| webmaster@wou.edu Text only